Home in Athens

Class has been interesting while here in Greece. It is nothing like what we have back at St. John’s and that has made work more difficult or at least routine more difficult. But the work is not challenging and with the exception of our Byzantine liturgical tradition (which is quite tedious) they are mostly quite enjoyable. I have learnt more about ancient Greek art then I thought possible and I will gladly add this information to my arsenal of pretentiousness. History is split between in class and on site adventures. Our last class was spent at the ancient agora. This central marketplace was used for many centuries as the hub for commerce, politics and many aspects of Athenian social life. In the same complex we also saw the Hephastion, or the Temple of Hephaistos. This is a magnificently well persevered temple. On the walk back from the Agora, I was quickly crossing a street with my classmates—I say quickly because of the nature of pedestrian travel in this city, stop signs and yield signs and right of way and turn signals are foreign concepts here; it can be treacherous--when I hear a horn honk at me and my name yelled. I turn around quite confused about this and see Amelia, one of my new friends via Andreas, smiling and waving at me from her car. This seems like an innocuous incident in of itself, but when put in the proper context it is quite astonishing. I am walking down a busy Athenian street, having only been in this city for 5 weeks, and a woman I have met many times feels friendly enough towards me to stop, honk and wave hello. Whatever aspirations I had about meeting locals and assimilating as best I could into the Greek culture have been as near to fully realized as possible. Andreas owns the hair saloon across the street and lives in one of the apartments above. Once a week, even though he is 35, his mother comes to his home and cleans things and cooks him a couple dishes of Authentic Greek Cuisine. I have been the second-hand benefactor of the Greek tradition of mother’s babying their children far into adulthood. The food has been delicious and it is a great feeling being the recipient of real Greek hospitality.